In the first half of 2026, the fourth and fifth payments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) should be serviced, amounting to nearly 2.5 billion euros, announced Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth in resignation Tomislav Donchev.
He commented on the third payment of 1.47 billion euros under the NRRP, which our country received yesterday. With this, the funds under the NRRP from the European Commission to Bulgaria are approaching 2 billion euros (nearly 4 billion BGN), said the Deputy Prime Minister in resignation.
Donchev defined this as an achievement, because a year ago the question was whether the NRRP could be saved at all. The plan was renegotiated, which made it possible for a large part of the reforms to be supported and implemented, he said. Additionally, the government managed to negotiate the REPowerEU chapter worth 480 million euros additionally, the Deputy Prime Minister in resignation pointed out.
The increase in the pace of payments was something that Donchev also highlighted as a success. We found payments for 1.5 billion BGN, he said. Currently, they are 4.5 billion BGN, which means that only within 2025 three times more have been paid than in the previous four years, stated the Deputy Prime Minister in resignation. According to him, if the funds from the cohesion policy paid out this year are added, then the European funds invested in the Bulgarian economy amount to 8 billion BGN. Tomislav Donchev defined this as unprecedented. This pace should be preserved, he emphasized.
Whatever the lifespan of this government, we are ambitious to do everything necessary to continue working on the requirements in order to help the next governments receive the remaining funds, he said.